Kriknak — Patch 1.63 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: C | Web: S | Web: S | Web: A | Web: A] Pro play (RPL 2026): 2 picks, 100.0% WR, 1.0% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked. Ranked S on zathong.com. Ranked S on metatierlist.com. Ranked A on pillarofgaming.com. Ranked A on commonsensegamer.com.
Kriknak — Assassin Guide
Key Insights
- Passive (Bite): every skill hit empowers your next auto for bonus physical damage; waste it by double-autoing and you bleed DPS fast.
- Q (Terrifying Plague): detonating the mark deals 10% of the target's max HP as magic damage, so tanks are not safe; detonation also refunds 3s of cooldown.
- Q has travel time on the larva, so dash with W first to close gap, then Q at point-blank so the mark lands instantly instead of sailing past a blink.
- W (Evil Tentacles): dash direction matters; going through the target lets you exit on the far side, pushing enemies toward your tower rather than away from you.
- R (Fury of Flying Locusts): the airborne phase lasts 6 full seconds and blocks ground-targeted CC; hold the re-activation, do not slam immediately or you telegraph the angle.
Strengths
Terrifying Plague deals 10% max HP, punishing tanks who stack health.
Evil Tentacles refreshes fast, letting him chase, escape, and proc 
Bite.
Fury of Flying Locusts grants 6s CC immunity to ground-targeted lockdown.- 0.3% ban rate on Thai server means he's free almost every lobby.
Weaknesses
- Zero hard CC; if an assassination fails, he relies entirely on teammates.
- Terrifying Plague is useless if a blink or Airi's parry blocks the follow-up auto.
- Pre-Soulreaver clear is slow, leaving him vulnerable to early counter-jungle.
- Purely single-target; no macro leverage against a five-man frontline.
Matchups
Abilities
PBite
When Kriknak hits an enemy with a skill attack, his next auto attack deals physical damage.
1Terrifying Plague
Kriknak commands his minion to attack an enemy, dealing physical damage and applying a mark to the target. If Kriknak attacks the marked target again, the mark detonates, dealing magic damage equal to 10% of the target's max HP. This also reduces this skill's cooldown by 3 seconds and restores 35 mana to Kriknak.
2Evil Tentacles
Kriknak dashes in a direction, dealing physical damage to all enemies in his path. Additionally, he restores HP to himself for each enemy hero hit by this skill.
RFury of Flying Locusts
Kriknak takes flight for 6 seconds, gaining a movement speed boost for a short duration. If this skill is used again while airborne, he dashes to the target location, dealing physical damage in an area and slowing nearby enemies.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Terrifying Plague | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
| 2Evil Tentacles | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
| RFury of Flying Locusts | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Onslaught
Assassinate
Dragon's ClawStandard Build
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Standard Kill Combo
R21POpen with R to cross distance and bait out displacement abilities, re-activate the slam directly over the target, immediately W through them to trigger Bite, then Q to plant the mark and auto-attack once more to detonate. All five inputs land in under two seconds.
Gank Ambush (No Ult)
1P2From brush, Q first at close range so the mark lands instantly, proc Bite with an auto, then W through the fleeing target to deal damage and trigger a second Bite. Use this when R is on cooldown and the target is already low.
Flicker Finisher
R21PAgainst a target who has burned their escape, R over a wall to shortcut across terrain, Flicker mid-flight to snap your landing position onto their body, then run the standard kill combo before they can react to your angle.
Double-Q Cycle (Extended Fight)
1P2P1Only worth doing when the first Q detonation procs the three-second cooldown refund. Used against tanky targets who survive the initial burst. Keep alternating Q marks and Bite-empowered autos to grind through a bruiser's health bar.
Expert Video Guide
Rov: ติวเข้ม เทคนิคเล่นด้วง Kriknak แบบละเอียด !! — Monaliza Channel
Gameplan
Kriknak's first real power spike is Soulreaver completion. The bonus damage on jungle targets speeds up camp clears enough that he can start looking for ganks around level four. His absolute peak is the window between Soulreaver and Broken Spear, roughly the eight-to-fourteen minute mark, when enemies are still squishy enough that the 10% max-HP detonation hits hard but have not yet built anti-burst items. Once Fenrir's Tooth comes online alongside Omni Arms he maintains lethality in the late game, but that mid-game window is when you must push for objectives and build a gold lead. Play safe pre-Soulreaver, play aggressively after it.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Start Blue Buff to manage mana on repeated Q casts, then rotate Red Buff to Golem to hit level four before looking at any lane. Kriknak's pre-Soulreaver gank threat is real, but not strong enough to justify sacrificing a full clear.
- →After your first clear, identify the enemy jungler's path and counter-track rather than blind-pathing. Kriknak loses early 1v1s against power junglers like Nakroth, so invade only after confirming the enemy is on the opposite side of the map.
- →Keep W for escapes when clearing near the enemy jungle. Burning it casually on camp positioning will leave you without a gap-closer if the enemy jungler shows up unexpectedly.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →After Soulreaver completes, immediately look for a rotation onto an overextended mid-laner or ADC. The Q mark plus auto detonation at this stage chunks most squishy heroes for 40-50% of their HP in a single pass.
- →Contest every Dragon that spawns. Use R's aerial phase to scout over terrain before committing, and slam the re-activation on the Dragon pit if the enemy team has stacked on top of it.
- →When your team is ahead, deep-ward the enemy jungle with your support before splitting to track their jungler. Kriknak snowballs most efficiently by stealing camps and starving the opposing jungler rather than forcing 5v5 teamfights.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →Target the enemy carry exclusively in late-game teamfights. R over the frontline, slam onto the ADC or mage, and W back out through the front-line if the deletion is clean. Do not get dragged into fighting the tank.
- →If the game has gone long and the enemy has built anti-burst items, shift to a utility assassination pattern: Q-mark a support, disrupt their positioning, and let your frontline engage while you wait on R for a re-entry angle.
- →Blade of Eternity gives you a second life. When your passive triggers in a late teamfight, immediately re-activate R if available and re-engage rather than retreating. Enemies will waste cooldowns assuming you are dead.
Pro Tips
- →Watch where your W exits the target. If you dash through them toward a wall you will trap yourself, so always picture your escape vector before picking the W direction in a gank.
- →The R aerial phase lasts a full six seconds, which is longer than most players realize. Spend the first two seconds repositioning or baiting abilities before re-activating the slam instead of crashing down immediately and showing your angle.
- →Q's cooldown refund on detonation stacks with standard cooldown reduction. At high CDR you can realistically cycle Q three times in one extended duel, which is exactly why Omni Arms mid-build is not optional: the attack speed it provides accelerates your detonation timing.
- →When the enemy team is grouped in a close game, mark the enemy support with Q during their frontline's engage instead of diving straight for the carry. A support with a mark forces awkward repositioning from the whole team and usually opens a clean path directly to the carry.
Kriknak rewards junglers who master the Q mark and Bite detonation cycle and respect the narrow window in which he dominates games. His A-tier placement is genuine. The 100% win rate reflects players who have done their homework, and at Diamond and above his near-zero ban rate means he is free almost every lobby. Pick him up if you value controlled, targeted eliminations over brawling skirmishes, and make landing the Q detonation your first and last obsession. Everything else in the kit exists to enable that one interaction.
Kriknak — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kriknak good in the current ROV patch?+
Yes. Kriknak is rated A tier on the Thai server this patch with a 100% win rate in the tracked ranked sample, driven almost entirely by specialist players who understand the Q mark detonation cycle. His near-zero ban rate of 0.3% makes him one of the most consistently available A-tier jungle picks, and the current meta's squishy carry compositions play straight into his max-HP burst damage scaling.
What is the best build for Kriknak?+
The core path is Soulreaver into Gilded Greaves, then Broken Spear to shred armor, Omni Arms for attack speed to accelerate Q detonations, Fenrir's Tooth for the execute threshold, and Blade of Eternity as a survivability anchor. Soulreaver is non-negotiable as your first item. Skipping it collapses your early jungle tempo and delays the power spike that defines his mid-game.
How do you counter Kriknak?+
The cleanest counter is a hero with a parry or blink on the auto-attack timing, like Airi, because the entire burst combo depends on landing the Q detonation follow-up. If that auto is dodged or parried, Kriknak has burned every cooldown for nothing. At a team composition level, running a mobile tank who can body-block his W dash stops him from reaching the backline cleanly. Picking Nakroth into him in the jungle also denies the early tempo he needs to snowball.
Is Kriknak hard to play / good for beginners?+
Kriknak is rated Medium difficulty. His basic combo is learnable in a few games, but getting the most out of him requires precise W directionality, knowing exactly when to re-activate R, and reading whether the enemy team has abilities that negate your detonation before you commit. He is not a good first jungler for newer players. Heroes like Arthur or Skud are more forgiving. For Diamond players looking to expand their jungle pool, though, the mechanical ceiling is worth the effort.