crixalis the sand king

8/14/2019 Crixalis the Sand King

1/18

Strategy Guide for Crixalis the Sand Kingby DamnNoHtml (as of v6.60)

Visit http://planetdota.blogspot.com/ for your Dota needs!

Table of Contentsa.)Skills / Abilities

b.)Itemsc.)Gameplay-Early Game-Mid Game-Late Game

d.)Burrowstriking Perfectlye.)Enemy Heroes

f.)Other Notes

The Sand King's Abilities

BurrowstrikeThe Sand King burrows into the ground, tunnels forward impalingeverything above him, then surfaces.Level 1 - 100 damage, 400 maximum range.Level 2 - 160 damage, 500 maximum range.Level 3 - 220 damage, 600 maximum range.

Level 4 - 280 damage, 700 maximum range.

Notes :: One of my favorite spells. Allows you to not only stun and dealdecent damage to a fairly wide area of effect, but allows you to jump into acombat situation or teleport up a hill for an escape / kill. I will get into usingBurrowstrike perfectly later.
http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showuser=28http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showuser=28http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showuser=28http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showuser=28


2/18

Sand Storm

The Sand King creates a fearsome Sand Storm. The storm blinds hisenemies and he becomes invisible to them. The storm also causeshis opponents to take damage.

Level 1 - 20 damage per second, lasts 20 seconds, 0.3 second delay beforevisible.Level 2 - 40 damage per second, lasts 40 seconds, 0.6 second delay beforevisible.Level 3 - 60 damage per second, lasts 60 seconds, 0.9 second delay beforevisible.Level 4 - 80 damage per second, lasts 80 seconds, 1.2 second delay before

visible.

Notes :: Great for farming if you do this build, great for escaping death. Idon't use this ability too much.

Caustic FinaleEach of the Sand King's attack injects a deadly venom that causesthe target to explode violently on death, dealing damage in an area.

Level 1 - 90 damage.Level 2 - 130 damage.Level 3 - 170 damage.Level 4 - 220 damage.

Notes :: One of the best farming skills in the game. Nuff' said.

EpicenterSends a disturbance into the earth, causing it to shudder violently.All caught within range will take damage and slowed. The closer tothe epicenter, the more damage taken.


3/18

Level 1 - 2.0 second casting time, 6 pulses of 110 damage.Level 2 - 2.0 second casting time, 8 pulses of 110 damage.Level 3 - 2.0 second casting time, 10 pulses of 110 damage.

Notes :: One of the key spells in any mass push / defense in any CAL game,

or hell, any game of any kind for that matter. Good for solo kills, good fordouble kills, good to ward away, good to stop pushes, good for everything.

[Skill Build]

1. Burrowstrike -------------------> ? : Stun Level 1 Always good

2. Attribute Bonus / *Caustic Finale ----------------> ? : Mana to Spam,Health to stay

3. Burrowstrike

4. Attribute Bonus / *Sand Storm

5. Burrowstrike6. Epicenter

7. Burrowstrike

8. Attribute Bonus

9. Attribute Bonus

10.Attribute Bonus

11.Epicenter

12.Attribute Bonus / *Caustic Finale

13.Attribute Bonus / *Caustic Finale14.Sand Storm -------------------> ? : 1 Point to Avoid Death in many

circumstances

15.Caustic Finale -----------------> ? : Eventually get this to easen farmingeven more.

16.Epicenter

17.Caustic Finale

18.Caustic Finale

19.Caustic Finale

20.Attribute Bonus

21.Attribute Bonus

22.Attribute Bonus

23.Sand Storm

24.Sand Storm

25.Sand Storm


4/18

Note: Sometimes if you are alone with a melee enemy hero, gettingCaustic instead of stats earlier can be more effective.

*: Sometimes it is better to get the ability proceeding the "*" first as they could better yoursituation.

EX: If you have a Level 6 Lycan in Wolf Form, you're gonna most likley want a Sand Storm tomake his ultimate useless. Or, if you are versing a melee hero alone in a lane, 90 damage perevery creep is alot of harassment with Caustic.

It depends what you want - I have tried both methods, they work equally as effective in the rightsituation.

Item Build :[Starting Items]

Gauntlets of Strength -------------------------------- Early HP Boost

Circlet of Nobility ------------------------------------- Early HP + MP Boost

Flask of Sapphire Water ----------------------------- Saves a trip to the Well

Clarity Potion ----------------------------------------- Saves a trip to the Well

Ironwood Branch

[First Trip To Well - Should have at least 1000]

Bracer Scroll -------------------------------- Complete the earlier two

Circlet of Nobility ------------------------------------- Early HP + MP Boost

Gauntlets of Strength ----------------------------- Early HP Boost

Bracer Scroll ----------------------------------------- Complete the earlier two

Boots of Speed ----------------------------------------- (Duh)

Flask of Sapphire Water ----------------------------------------- In case you don't have your

first one.[Second Trip To Well]

Kelen's Dagger of Escape ----------------------------------------- Completely vital

Filler Bracers ----------------------------------------- Always nice to have + stats.

[Later Game] Defense Build

Aegis of the Immortal (Plate Mail + Stout Shield + Planeswalkers Cloak + Recipe)

Heart of Tarrasque

Heart of Tarrasque

[Later Game] Offense Build

Monkey King Bar (Demon Edge + Quarterstaff + Recipe)

Heart of Tarrasque


5/18

Heart of Tarrasque

Why?:

Heart : I actually underestimated this item when I first posted my SK guide. Heart is a very good

item on SK, both defensive and offensive. It adds roughly 1000 HP and 35 damage, not to

mention 11 HP / Sec regen. Combined with Aegis and perhaps another heart, it would take the

Fire Well 11 seconds to kill you. Pretty damn nice Tank. It allows you to run in with Epicenter

and STILL be targetted but live.

What about BKB? : Yeah, BKB makes sense right? Burrowstrike in, channel Epicenter, turn on

BKB, and they can't stop the channeling of the spell. Frankly I don't like BKB too much. My

reasons for this are that I get enough HP later with Heart, and if you have a Blink Dagger

Epicenter will already be going off so there is no need to stop it. Plus, with BKB, if you

Burrowstrike in and Epicenter, people will scatter and you will have less of an effect. With just

Blink Dagger, they could be all together and not have time to react.

Only list a few items? : Yeah, late game you really can go whatever you want, there really is no

baditem for the Sand King, with a few obvious exceptions (Scepter, Orb Effects). I only listed

what I usually go, but I change alot so don't go by it like its a bible.

GameplayEarly Game

Start off by going to the lane of your choice. The good thing about Sand King is he is an

excellent solo hero, yet an excellent dual-lane assistant as well. So, it doesn't matter if you soloor not. Start off in the lane being very, very passive. Hold ALT and walk around with Crixalis

until you see a creep with a small fraction of health remaining. As you see the creep start to

lose all of its health, immidiately right click it, and go back to your walking around quickly.

(To prevent auto attacking on creeps). This is a very common farming method and works

amazingly well in the long run - though hard to master.

Sometimes at early levels you can bait yourself by rambo right-clicking the enemy hero (Don't

do this if you know it will be dumb AKA into Crystal Maiden and CK.) Get him to about 50%

health (You should be probably around 25% health). Make him think he can kill you, and then

use the power of your creeps to kill him instead. (View Image)


6/18

Once you hit Level 3 you can begin doingsome damage, but don't look for any kills yet. (Unless

there is an allied stunner in your lane.) If you notice an enemy hero being attacked by at least 2

creeps, Burrowstrike him and attack him 2 times. The combination of your stun, your 2 attacks,

and the 2 creeps attacking him add up to around 280-340 health taken away. Continue farming

and being passive (Unless a stun opportunity occurs.

Level 5 is a pretty big level because Burrowstrike is now quite manueverable. You can start to

strike up hills, down cliffs etc and the range is pretty long. Burrowstrike has more AoE than

the actual spike effect shown.*

*As of 6.27b


7/18

Level 6 - Yay. Now you can easily, easily get double kills. There is an art to Burrowstrike -

Epicenter..ing. You need to thinkwhat the person you burrowstriked is going to do when they see

the green glow come from your tail.

Try and think what your enemies will think.

Level 7-10 - Just farm, get a kill if you can. Work on that Blink Dagger money until you get it.

Boring, yes. If an ambush comes, be prepared.


8/18

...Seconds Later...


9/18

And finally...


10/18

Level 11-14 - Hopefully you have a Blink Dagger by now, and if you do, then now you mustlearn the art of Blink Strike + Epicenter. Look at these images and then I will explain further.


11/18

After the blink with Epicenter "on" :


12/18

There isn't really an "art" of Burrowstrike + Epicenter, as it isn't rocket science. Yet, it is one ofthe most effective "moves" in DotA. It usually never fails. First, find a spot that is in the fog of

war or out of sight of enemy heroes. Be at most 900 units away from the enemies. Begin

channeling Epicenter, and after the green light goes away and you start pulsing (You may miss 1

or 2 pulses if you are a begginner, it's ok) immediately blink into the center of the enemy

Heroes. After your pulses are up, Burrowstrike the remainders (if there are any) to sweep easy

double kills.

A common misconception is when you Blink in with Epicenter "on" you should immediately

Burrowstrike the enemies - This is false. If you do this, the time the enemy heroes spend in the

air for Burrowstrike, they enemies are invulnerable, which means, no Epicenter damage. Waituntl all pulses are clear OR you can get a kill with a Burrowstrike.

Some people like to Channel Epicenter and then Shift-click Blink dagger so they wont miss

a pulse - I do not like this as the target you want to blink to 2 seconds ago may change in

the 2 seconds of channeling.

Later Levels - There is not much more that is new to the Sand King after Level 14. Sand Storm

should be used for dire situations and you need to stall for allied heroes to rescue. There is a

specific way you should farm with Caustic Finale. When you see a full creep wave,

Burrowstrike every single unit. Immediately attack the necromancer of the wave, and then attack1-2 ghouls. If you did this correctly, with Level 4 Caustic Finale, you should have killed the

whole creep wave in a matter of seconds.

The Sand King is great for pushes - Do the Blink + Epicenter combo and it will totally screw up

a team. Other than that, everything else just comes from practice. That is of course, once you can

master the art of...


13/18

Mastering BurrowstrikeBurrowstrike is an incredibly versatile skill as you can transport to whatever location you want.It is especially useful for escaping by Burrowstriking up a hill.

Basics :There are times when you should and should not click a unit to Burrowstrike it. An

example of when it is actually OK to click a unit is when you are both farming in the same lane.

The good thing about clicking the unit is it will detect if he is in range, and if he leaves the range

you won't burrowstrike, which can be useful. DO NOT EVERclick a unit if you are CHASING

it, as you will always Burrowstrike behind the unit. You need to aim a bit ahead in the direction

of the runner.

Let the Blue Ball represent the Sand King and the Red Ball Represent an enemy Hero whois fleeing. In this situation, you have to click ahead of the unit, at the green X, or you will

Burrowstrike not far enough. This spell is NOT like Impale, where you can target it and it

(usually) can't miss.


14/18

Burrowstriking up a hill : To Successfully strike up a hill, you must be relatively close to the

edge of the cliff you want to go up / come down. Click as close as possible away from you, but

enough to be on the other side. If you click too far, the Sand King will try to run around the hard

way and not strike up the cliff, which, will make you screwed very often.

BAD:


15/18

GOOD:


16/18

Timing : Timing is essential with Burrowstrike since it is NOT a targetted spell like Impale.

Estimate the speed of your target and their direction and time accordingly. This comes with

practice. But once you master it, come on, how badass is it Burrowstriking down a cliff for a

kill?

Burrowstrike / Epicenter :

This is the most famous combo of the Sand King. Burrowstrike a unit (or more than one) and

then immidiately channel Epicenter, so that when the enemy is unstunned, they will be caught in

the Epicenter. There are many ways you can totally screw up B/E combo. Here are some tips to

prevent that from happening.

------------- Disablers :

Disablers suck when it comes to Burrowstrike / Epicenter. If you Burrowstrike, say, Crystal

Maiden, there is enough time for her as she is unstunned to Frostbite you and kill the Epicenter.

Not only that, she might use Freezing Field and kill you. Unless their main disable is on

cooldown, do not attempt to Burrowstrike Epicenter caster / disablers.

------------- Late Game Strength Heroes :

Obviously if a Hero has 2400 HP, Epicenters roughly 1,000 damage at Level 16 wont do jack

shit. Never try to just kill a Lone Centaur with it. Save it for a push when it will at least do some


17/18

damage. Don't get me wrong though, an early game 1000 HP centaur can be killed pretty easily

provided you avoid his stun.

------------- Blinkers / Heroes with Blink Dagger :

If you ever Burrowstrike and attempt to Epicenter an Antimage, I hate you. He will just blink

away easily and you will look pretty dumb :-p. Exceptions are if you TOO have a Blink Dagger -You can see where they Blink and just blink right with them, always a funny situation. Also if the

hero can blink w/o a dagger, having a teammate disable or silence him works.

------------- "Hot Spots" :

I like to call certain areas of the map "Hot Spots." Why? Because the Sand King can use

Burrowstrike to go to this area and be completely safe from harm for as long as he would like. If

you go to a Hot Spot, it is an area that the enemy cannot have a line of sight to, and that only

Burrowstrike can be casted to. You can transport ANYWHERE within the range with

Burrowstrike.


18/18

Other Notes-None : This is my first Guide and the First version of this one.

Good luck.

Visit http://planetdota.blogspot.com/ for your Dota needs!
http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/http://planetdota.blogspot.com/

crixalis the sand king

Documents