Kelvin, a.k.a. Mr. Crowd Control

Complete guide about Kelvin, covering his abilities, his helix and mutations, his skins, his taunts, his lore and strategies for Story mode and PvP.

Presentation

How to unlock

Reach level 18 on your Command rank

or

Win 5 matches playing an Eldrid character (Miko is the Eldrid starting hero)

Description

Faction: Eldrid:











Description given by the game:




How it translate:

Controller: Depending on your choices from his Helix the effect will vary but Kelvin can Stun or Slow pretty much anything beside a few bosses. His Q and his ultimate can do those things and they are just as effective 1-on-1 as they are versus a crowd. The thing you will notice though is the bigger the crowd, the bigger the game impact (not damage wise nor time wise) it will have. His abilities make him great in Meltdown and Incursion and a nice choice for Story mode, especially when ennemies spawn by the dozens like what you see in the last part of The Renegade.


Brawler: His attacks are all melee and despite the fact that you can easily run down and chase players around, he's the best when he's in the middle of the fight.


Advanced: I'd say he's easy to use but you got to understand that the fact he's crowd-control oriented, you're basically setting things up for your teammates. You can work well on your own and you got a nice, but not top tier, damage output, but to survive you really got to know what you're doing. Your survival partially goes through your ability to stay in the middle of the fight but if you can't chain your abilities properly, you will go down quite fast.



What I add:

Endurance: We'll get into the details later with the Helix, Mutations and Builds parts but to put it shortly, Kelvin can be one toughest guy to bring down. You can fight for minutes with only half your health and keep having an impact on the game.

Limited reach: His abilites may have some range but since his attacks are all melee, he can get kited all day by characters like Benedict, Caldarius or anybody with great mobility or elusiveness.

Abilities

Permafrost: You don't start with a shield but like it is said, any ability that you complete (don't get stunned or interrupted in any manner midway) give you a small portion of your shield. That's not incredibly good but that's a reason why Kelvin can tank some damages.

Ice fists: The description covers it well but basically, if you're easily following an ennemy or in a 1-on-1 fight, go for your left click. If you're in the middle of a group of ennemies (NPCs or Players) or chasing someone, go for your right click because of the AOE damage.

Ice Form: The way I see it, this is more lore related than anything else.


Sublimate: That's your initiation, your escape mechanism, your chasing and your main crowd control ability. When you use it, the view will switch to the third person and you'll see from behind the "cloud" you tranformed into. It does stun any ennemy you move through while it last, which is great, but the best thing is it allows you to move through buildables and even your ult! So use it to initiate, get out of fights, chase players around and even move through a crowd and reach a teammate you'll revive! The Helix allows some interesting modifications.


Chomp: Well, you take a bite of what's in front of you. You can miss your shot if your target move or if you get stunned as it is about to resolve but that's your damage ability. Note that you gain life points (I can't say the exact number though) when you kill an ennemy with this. If you're a killing machine you can grow to be an absolute monster in PvP. In Story mode it's not unusual to fiish with 4500 HP or more (you start with 2000).


Ice Wall: You create a wall that nobody, beside Benedict and Caldarius (because they can fly or jump over it), can pass through. Ennemies, teammates and even you have to run around it unless you use Sublimate. It's great in Meltdown and Incursion to stop minions from moving and in some missions like The Renegade, it can help you control the flow of ennemies coming in. Notes: 1- If you cast it right under an ennemy, it will stun him/her but some bosses are not affected by the stun. 2- It can be broken if attacked (NPCs don't do it but players do in PvP) but it takes many hits to do so.

Helix & mutations

To prevent confusion by having too much information in this section, I will only make a few comments. Remember that you unlock mutations at character level 3,5,7,9 and 12. Also, don't forget to click on the pictures to get a better bigger and better resolution.

1.


2.


3.
Picking the right option here will have you slow the ennemies but if you try to complete the lore you need the stun, then go for the left option.

4.
I know the left option says 23% lifesteal. Some of you may go "only 23%?" but believe me, if you play Kelvin well, it's just what you need to keep going. You don't need more.

5.
Remember that Permafrost is activated whenever you complete a skill so a 30% reduction on incoming damages is great!


6.


7.
I can't tell you the exact range for Groupthink's regeneration but you got to be quite close.

8.


9.


10.
I haven't used the mutation yet, because I prefer using the ultimate more frequently, so I can't say how much it increases the wall's length.

Builds

I play Kelvin the same way in Story and PvP but there are some small differences in my choices for each mode.

1. In Story mode, ennemies tend to leave you if you run to safety. That's why I go for the left option with the HP regen for that mode. In PvP, your opponents usually chase you until they get (or finish) a kill. That's why I usually take the mutation to beef up Kelvin early. I leave the hp regen for pvp because you'll get harassed so much it becomes worthless while being bigger early often means you'll outlive your opponents. Those aren't absolute laws, just my 2 cents. I know the right option applies a little slow but the fourth hit doesn't come fast enough to have you slow your target continuously, so I tend to skip it. So, Left or Mid.

2. Since I use Sublimate to initiate or run down opponents, I tend to pick the right option because when my opponents gets back fron the stun, I got a shield (partial one) to start the fight!
So, Right.

3. The slow from the right option is effective but there are a few reasons why I don't pick it. First, to complete the Lore you need the stun, not the slow. Second, the slow doesn't disrupt the ennemies the same way the stun does, even if it lasts longer. Third, the movement speed bonus from the left option helps you reach more players, for the Lore and for game advantage. So, LEFT.

4. Left, always left, here's why. As shown above, Kelvin can generate a shield for himself but the fact he's an Eldrid means he doesn't start with one. You don't get one until you stat using your abilities, so if you get stunned, all the damages go straight for your health right off the bat. Also, you got to remember that Kelvin is a melee hero, so he can't last in fights if he can't get his health up somehow. Also like I said earlier, 23% isn't perfect and won't have you at full health all the time but it will allows you to sustain yourself while wearing down your opponents. So, LEFT.

5. 30% damage reduction after a skill resolved. So, RIGHT.

6. The left option is for Story mode and it is quite situational while the right choice drops a cooldown if you land a kill with Chomp. So, RIGHT.

7. In story mode I tend to go for the left option, for the same reason said at the point 1. The Mutation is for PvP only but it's amazing. The right option isn't that interesting because I still want to keep the ennemies in my range while chasing them. So, LEFT or MID.

8. Go left for story mode and right for PvP. So, IT DEPENDS.

9. If you picked the lifesteal at number 4, get the left option tomake you even harder to kill. So, LEFT.

10. I prefer using the wall more frequently than adding effects but it's up to you. So, LEFT.


In short:

1. Left or Mid
2. Right
3. Left
4. Left
5. Right
6. Right
7. Left or Mid
8. Your choice
9. Left
10. Left

Items

Unless the teams are really unbalanced, Meltdown and Incursion games tend to last a while so I use the same build for those matches as the one I use for Story mode.

You don't need those specific items to play Kelvin but anything similar (or the same if you have them) will do.


The first I activate, is the one your get from completing Kelvin's lore.
**Note that in a recent patch they removed random stats from lore items. Since I got it before, the stats on mine may differ slightly from what you will get now.**

Here it is:

Getting a second shot at Chomp might be critical in the middle of a fight so, on top of the stats bonuses, it's a must.

Next item is:


The stats are nice but the 30 seconds effect is just too great to neglect, especially on Kelvin who spends his time in the middle of the action.


Last one is:
Just some nice stats boosts to complete the package!


Capture the points games tend to be faster and despite the fact that you can farm, the game usually ends before you can get enough for 3 legendary items. So, still use his lore item but I go for something to give me a shield :

And I get something for shield penetration at a low cost:


This way I still get the job done but at a lower activation cost.

Lore

That's the same picture I used to begin the guide but I simply pressed E, to hide the lore infos for the first shot.



Before going into the details, Kelvin's lore isn't the easiest one to complete but you won't need to grind for months either. I'd say his would be average-easy to get.


Here's what you need to do:


That's an Ice Shield: Absorb 50,000 (50K) shield damage. Both PvE and PvP counts and if you got an item that generates a shield, on top of his abilities, it will take some time but it should be a walk in the park.


Bite-sized Wonders: Deal 80,000 (80K) damages with Chomp. Again, you can do this in all modes and if you take a bite of anything you can, it shouldn't be that long to achieve.


The Best defence is De Fence: Stun 50 ennemies with Ice Wall (the ultimate). This one may take a while but it may be faster if you cast the ultimate in the middle of a group of ennemies. The last part of The Renegade, where you have to protect Caldarius, has a lot of ennemies moving in groups. It may take a while if you only try to farm it on that mission but remember it counts on single targets too, so it can be done on any mode. Honestly, this was the last part I completed since it requires your ult and a good number of ennemies.


Miko are all my Friends: Find a Miko and play 3 games (PvP and Story both counts) with him on your team. You probably know the drill, but remember that you only need to complete the match not absolutely win it.


Micro Macro Mist me: Stun 3 Battleborn ennemies (players) simultanesouly with Sublimate, 10 times. This one is a bit tricky because you need at least 3 opponents to be close enough to each other to pull it off. One thing that can help you though, is picking the Left option (Swelling Wind) at level 3, because it will make you move faster the longer you stay in Sublimate. You may need to be patient for this one.


Once you're done with the 5 parts you will get the achievement Civil Ice (see the picture used for the thumbnail of the guide) and you will receive a Legendary item for Kelvin (I showed it before):

While some items may be ok or bad this one is actually pretty good.

Titles

Just like it is the case for any other character, you get 3 specific titles for playing Kelvin:




for getting him to level 2.




for winning 10 games with him.




for completing his lore and winning while he's at level 15.

Taunts

So far I got 1 taunt from an Eldrid pack, so I'll update this section when I get more.

Here are the ones you see and get by leveling up:

Grab 'N' Go (the base one)

Some kind of flying bug(light) appears, he grabs it and eat it.


Heart of Ice

He grabs his heart, take it out and shows it (still beating).


Guffaw of the Gigas (unlocked at level 15)

He laughs, with his fists on his hips and at the end he points, still laughing.



"Secret" ones:


Frost Gigas

He hits the ground with his right fist then he howls.

Skins

It's only different colors but here they are:

(base)
(Unlocks at level 15)

























Special ones

From Eldrid packs:























From the Market (bought with Platinum coins):