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CONTENTS

Introduction

Alt-Tab Guide General Information

Skills

Special Mention: "Shift + Blink" Technique

Skill Builds

Item Builds

Gameplay

Allies - Enemies - Countering Items

Replays

Last Words

INTRODUCTION

I've been playing DotA for almost 4 years but still, I've not made any guide yet. With my little

knowledge about my most favorite hero - Sand King, I want to contribute for DotA community

my very first guide. Any advice and suggestions are highly appreciated.I hope you will like my guide and it shall help you to understand and improve your skills when

playing this hero.

ALT-TAB GUIDE

Starting Items Core Items Core Exension Optional Luxury Skillbuild

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Hero's information Background Story Advanced Statistics Pros and Cons Roles

Released long time ago, Sand King is considered one of the most stable heroes and the bestinitiator in DotA. He can deal a lot of damage in a large area more than most. All abilities of his

can deal damages to multiple enemy units. He has both escaping and initiating abilities in just 1

skill, Burrow Strike. Sand Storm can keep him invisible and confuse the enemies while still

damaging them every second. Caustic Finale can destroy any creep waves with ease. His famousultimate, Epicenter, is one of the most deadly and devastating ability, a real nightmare in every

teamfight. His entrance is usually his most powerful element, best executed when most of theenemy team are crumpled up together, trying his best to deal as much damage as possible while

inflicting slow or stun status effects upon them.

SKILLS

Burrow Strike Sand Storm Caustic Finale Epicenter

SpellTypeTargeting TypeEffected unitsHotkey

Active Unit/Point Enemies E

The Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, impaling everything

above him, then resurfaces.

LevelMana

CostCooldown

Casting

RangeAoEDurationEffects

1 110 11 sec 350 150 1.65 sec Deals 100 damage and stuns for 1.65

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seconds.

2 120 11 sec 450 150 1.65 secDeals 160 damage and stuns for 1.65seconds.

3 130 11 sec 550 150 1.65 secDeals 220 damage and stuns for 1.65

seconds.4 140 11 sec 650 150 1.65 sec

Deals 280 damage and stuns for 1.65seconds.

Burrow Strike's damage type is magical.

Burrow Strike deals damage to all units that are on its path and stun them for 1.65 sec.

Sand King while using Burrow Strike can dodge most single-targeting spells such asMagic Missile or even Stormbolt.

Burrow Strike tosses the units on the air for 0.52 sec. After that, the damage and the stun

will be applied on affected units.

Burrow Strike doesn't go through BKB but is not blocked by Linken's Sphere.

Pros:

Deals good amount of damage.

Decent stunning time.

Good dodging/escaping/chasing/initial tool.

Cons:

Mana cost is pretty high for a Strength hero.

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150 AoE is not large, it's easy to miss if you're not choose good positions.

Casting range is not so far so you may have to reveal yourself to your enemies before

using it.

How to use Burrow Strike?

Initiating: probably this is the first usage of Burrow Strike. Thanks to its 650 castingrange, you can stun your enemies from afar. But remember to choose positions wisely or

else you will miss it and waste your mana. If the enemies are crowed, watch carefully and

choose the best position to land your stun perfectly. The best is catching all your enemiesin one stun or at least catching the most dangerous ones.

Escaping: you can use it to make your distance between you and the chasing enemieslonger by 650 range. Or even you can burrow from low ground to high ground or theopposite, through the trees or edges... There are so much way to escape with Burrow

Strike.

Dodging spells:this requires your micro. When you see an enemy throw a spell to you,

you can burrow to him if your HP is high or you have backup, or you can burrow away to

flee from him. This can only be applied when the spells are triggered but not hit you yet.

The stun's effect still appears above your head (with some spell like Magic Missile) butyou're not stunned for any second.

Chasing: too obvious usage, I think I don't have to mention about this one.

Mastering Burrowstrike:

I think I should mention about it clearly since this skill is not easy to use like it seems.

Many will think Burrowstrike is like Impale, the difference between them is that SK willmove to the targeted spot and stun the enemies. But it's not just simple like that. Unlike

Impale, when you click on the unit (such as heroes), it will detect whether that unit is in

the range or not, if it's in the allowed range of Burrowstrike, the spell will be activated

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and stun it, if not, it won't be activated and SK will go after that unit until it gets in the

range of Burrowstrike and stun it. Sometimes, it's OK to click on the units, but in many

cases, clicking on the ground will be much better especially when you're chasingsomeone. Remember, when you're chasing someone, DON'T EVER CLICK ON THAT

UNIT because you will always Burrowstrike right behind it, you need to aim a bit ahead

in the direction of the fleeing enemies.For example:

Let the Blue Ball represent the Sand King and the Red Ball Represent an enemy Hero

who is 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 itand it (usually) can't miss.

Another thing that make Burrowstrike better than other stuns is its ability that helps SK

get through terrain, moving uphill and downhill, through the cliffs with ease. Everyonethat plays SK should know about this. These picture below are good examples.- Bad Burrowstrike:

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-Good Burrowstrike:

SPECIAL MENTION: "SHIFT + BLINK" TECHNIQUE

I think I should make this session since many people play Sand King a lot but still haven't known

this technique yet. This is a "must - have" technique for every Sand King user because you can

have so many benefits from it.

It's pretty simple and only takes you a few time practicing.First of all, you need to look at the position that you want to be in and choose the best position o

start your Epicenter. Then follow these steps:

Press "C" key to activate Epicenter.

Click "Shift" button and then click on Blink Dagger quickly while SK is channelingEpicenter.

Wait for Sand King to finish waving his tail the second time then click on position that

you want to land the Epicenter.

Remember, you have to wait until he finish waving his time the second tale, or else you will

blink in without your ultimate and that will be a disaster!Here is a video of "Shift + Blink" Sand King. I think you may learn something from it.

SKILL BUILDS

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Skill Build 1 Skill Build 2 Skill Build 3

Lvl 1 Burrow Strike

Lvl 2 Sand Storm

Lvl 3 Burrow Strike

Lvl 4 Sand Storm

Lvl 5 Burrow Strike

Lvl 6 Epicenter

Lvl 7 Burrow Strike

Lvl 8 Sand Storm

Lvl 9 Sand Storm

Lvl 10 Caustic Finale

Lvl 11 Epicenter

Lvl 12 Caustic Finale

Lvl 13 Caustic Finale

Lvl 14 Caustic Finale

Lvl 15 Stats

Lvl 16 Epicenter

Lvl 17 - 25 Stats

Explaination:This build is considered standard build for Sand King in competitive games. Maxing Burrow

Strike since it's your best skill, no need to explain it. Taking Epicenter at lvl 6, 11 and 16 is not

needed to explain. Why max Sand Storm? This skill gives you so many benefits. Sand King is a

ganker, support and initiator so he spends most of his time roaming, supporting and ganking.Sand Storm will save you when your HP is low, dodging everything thrown to you and also mess

your enemies up when they're laning with you. You won't farm much so Caustic Finale is not so

needed, and as I said above, taking it early will push your lane too high. Take it after maxingBurrow Strike and Sand Storm because at that level (9 or 10), you will have to push a lot so

Caustic Finale will help you to kill creeps faster.

ITEM BUILDS

Starting Items Core Items Optional Luxury Rejected

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Boots.Boots are usually "must - have" items for every heroes. But which boots should be got on

Sand King?

This is the most popular boots for Sand King. 250 bonus mana and restores 135

mana every 55 seconds, it will solve the mana problem for Sand King and allow him tospam comfortably. I recommend this item for Sand King.

If your teamates already got Arcane Boots, you can take Power Tread. 8 any

stats you want, more AS, not so bad at all.

24 damage, Phase ability, great for ganking. But I don't like it since you already

have a great chasing, escaping tool - Burrow Strike.

The fastest boots in DotA, teleport ability. But 2700 gold is too much in earlygame. You should get in when your core items are completed.

or Very very useful in any situation by any mean neccessary. I always

have one in my inventory, you should too.

Every Sand King user should have this item on your inventories even you have or

don't have BKB. Great chasing/escaping/initial tool. Your stun is good but not good enough,especially there are strong disables from your enemies such as Hex, Shackles... They will bedestroyed before you approach them so 2150 gold is completely worth it. You are versatile,

not you are more versatile. Get it when you complete your boots or you can even skip

upgrading your Boots of Speed and go straight to Dagger. But in some situations, gettingBKB first would be the choice, I will mention it later.

Since you will gank and participate in teamfights a lot, this will be very useful. 6

Strength means 6 damage and 114 HP, with 50% mana regeneration. Charges give you andallies 400 HP, take away 150 HP of your enemies'. But don't buy it if your team already had

one.

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As I mentioned above, Sand King is one of the most focused heroes in teamfightssince he's a very dangerous creature as well as a fragile hero. When they see you, they will

try to kill you as fast as possible and you're very easy for them to kill. Your HP is average,

your armor is average too, they can kill you in 2 sec. So BKB is a very good item for you. Itcan keep you alive during teamfights and prevent any spell from hitting you, allows you to

move around the battlefield or use Sand Storm, casting Epicenter or TP'ing without being

interrupted.

Many people consider this optional, but I put it in core items. 10 all stats, 250 HP,

150 mana and upgrade the ultimate, so great. Getting Aghanim's Scepter doesn't onlyincrease the pulses but also reduce the cooldown 20 sec, it allows you to participate in

teamfights more often. 2 pulses increased means 220 damage added to the Epicenter. Isn't

that great? Also, this item is made from pretty cheap ingredients, so farming it up isn't hardfor you at all.

GAMEPLAY

Early Game Mid Game

Late Game

Since you can fit many roles, you and your mates must decide which role you will take in orderto choose lanes or you.

Solo lane - Solo mid: try to last-hit and deny as much as possible and reach lvl 6 as fast asyou can so that you can start ganking effectively. Don't risk yourself for a last-hit if

you're facing dangerous enemies. Your level is much important than your items, if you

get levels, you can gank and it will give you money.

Dual - tri lane: that mostly means you choose support role. There are much more things

to do when you choose this role. Stacking, pulling creep camps to farm, warding some

potential spots, keeping your enmies away from your carry... You must move a lot andyou can barely farm. Keep your attention on the minimap, if there is any posible gank,

you should go there to support.

Remember, always watch the minimap! Map awareness is always necessary.

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At the end of this phase, you must have at least Boots of Speed. Always carry some

salves, tangoes and clarities in case you need regen.

ALLIES - ENEMIES - COUNTERING ITEMS

Allies Enemies Countering Items/Special mention

You love these guys. Why? Their AoE disables allow you to choose the best positions to land

your stun and ultimate. There are more such as Lina, Leshrac ... but the list is very long so I just

name a few heroes.

These guys give you mana, love them as much as you can.

Their silence will prevent your enemies to disable you or throw their spells to you.

Who can hate healers? I can't. You either!

REPLAYS

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I've still not found any good Sand King replays. MaNia's and 357's Sand King replays are too

old, I can't download them.

I'll appreciate if anyone can give me some.

LAST WORD

I want to thank you all for reading my guide. If it's mistaken or missing something, if you

have any advice or suggestions, please tell. All are highly appreciated.

BIG THANKS TO:

Lycan: for reminding me about some tips to use Burrow Strikes and of course, publishing

my guide.bohunzg and lomachaol: for reminding me about Pugna's ward as well as the Blink techique.

THE END

Crixalis the Sand King

Author:Lucre2808Map Vers.: 6.74c

Yes, Master!

Guide to Crixalis - The Sand KingDate Posted: 09/05/12Last Comment:20/03/2013Total Votes: 15

Current Rating: 8.00Views: 60791

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Alt-Tab Guide

General Information

Skills

Special Mention: "Shift + Blink" Technique

Skill Builds

Item Builds

Gameplay

Allies - Enemies - Countering Items

Replays

Last Words

INTRODUCTION

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I've been playing DotA for almost 4 years but still, I've not made any guide yet. With my little

knowledge about my most favorite hero - Sand King, I want to contribute for DotA community

my very first guide. Any advice and suggestions are highly appreciated.I hope you will like my guide and it shall help you to understand and improve your skills when

playing this hero.

ALT-TAB GUIDE

Starting Items Core Items Core Exension Optional Luxury Skillbuild

GENERAL INFORMATION

Hero's information Background Story Advanced Statistics Pros and Cons Roles

Released long time ago, Sand King is considered one of the most stable heroes and the best

initiator in DotA. He can deal a lot of damage in a large area more than most. All abilities of his

can deal damages to multiple enemy units. He has both escaping and initiating abilities in just 1skill, Burrow Strike. Sand Storm can keep him invisible and confuse the enemies while still

damaging them every second. Caustic Finale can destroy any creep waves with ease. His famous

ultimate, Epicenter, is one of the most deadly and devastating ability, a real nightmare in everyteamfight. His entrance is usually his most powerful element, best executed when most of the

enemy team are crumpled up together, trying his best to deal as much damage as possible while

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inflicting slow or stun status effects upon them.

SKILLS

Burrow Strike Sand Storm Caustic Finale Epicenter

SpellTypeTargeting TypeEffected unitsHotkey

Active Unit/Point Enemies E

The Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, impaling everything

above him, then resurfaces.

LevelMana

CostCooldown

Casting

RangeAoEDurationEffects

1 110 11 sec 350 150 1.65 secDeals 100 damage and stuns for 1.65

seconds.

2 120 11 sec 450 150 1.65 sec Deals 160 damage and stuns for 1.65seconds.

3 130 11 sec 550 150 1.65 secDeals 220 damage and stuns for 1.65

seconds.

4 140 11 sec 650 150 1.65 secDeals 280 damage and stuns for 1.65

seconds.

Burrow Strike's damage type is magical.

Burrow Strike deals damage to all units that are on its path and stun them for 1.65 sec.

Sand King while using Burrow Strike can dodge most single-targeting spells such as

Magic Missile or even Stormbolt.

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Burrow Strike tosses the units on the air for 0.52 sec. After that, the damage and the stunwill be applied on affected units.

Burrow Strike doesn't go through BKB but is not blocked by Linken's Sphere.

Pros:

Deals good amount of damage.

Decent stunning time.

Good dodging/escaping/chasing/initial tool.

Cons:

Mana cost is pretty high for a Strength hero.

150 AoE is not large, it's easy to miss if you're not choose good positions.

Casting range is not so far so you may have to reveal yourself to your enemies beforeusing it.

How to use Burrow Strike?

Initiating: probably this is the first usage of Burrow Strike. Thanks to its 650 casting

range, you can stun your enemies from afar. But remember to choose positions wisely or

else you will miss it and waste your mana. If the enemies are crowed, watch carefully and

choose the best position to land your stun perfectly. The best is catching all your enemies

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in one stun or at least catching the most dangerous ones.

Escaping: you can use it to make your distance between you and the chasing enemies

longer by 650 range. Or even you can burrow from low ground to high ground or theopposite, through the trees or edges... There are so much way to escape with Burrow

Strike.

Dodging spells:this requires your micro. When you see an enemy throw a spell to you,you can burrow to him if your HP is high or you have backup, or you can burrow away to

flee from him. This can only be applied when the spells are triggered but not hit you yet.

The stun's effect still appears above your head (with some spell like Magic Missile) butyou're not stunned for any second.

Chasing: too obvious usage, I think I don't have to mention about this one.

Mastering Burrowstrike:

I think I should mention about it clearly since this skill is not easy to use like it seems.

Many will think Burrowstrike is like Impale, the difference between them is that SK willmove to the targeted spot and stun the enemies. But it's not just simple like that. Unlike

Impale, when you click on the unit (such as heroes), it will detect whether that unit is inthe range or not, if it's in the allowed range of Burrowstrike, the spell will be activatedand stun it, if not, it won't be activated and SK will go after that unit until it gets in the

range of Burrowstrike and stun it. Sometimes, it's OK to click on the units, but in many

cases, clicking on the ground will be much better especially when you're chasingsomeone. Remember, when you're chasing someone, DON'T EVER CLICK ON THAT

UNIT because you will always Burrowstrike right behind it, you need to aim a bit ahead

in the direction of the fleeing enemies.

For example:

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Let the Blue Ball represent the Sand King and the Red Ball Represent an enemy Hero

who is 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 itand it (usually) can't miss.

Another thing that make Burrowstrike better than other stuns is its ability that helps SKget through terrain, moving uphill and downhill, through the cliffs with ease. Everyone

that plays SK should know about this. These picture below are good examples.

- Bad Burrowstrike:

-Good Burrowstrike:

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SPECIAL MENTION: "SHIFT + BLINK" TECHNIQUE

I think I should make this session since many people play Sand King a lot but still haven't known

this technique yet. This is a "must - have" technique for every Sand King user because you can

have so many benefits from it.It's pretty simple and only takes you a few time practicing.

First of all, you need to look at the position that you want to be in and choose the best position o

start your Epicenter. Then follow these steps:

Press "C" key to activate Epicenter. Click "Shift" button and then click on Blink Dagger quickly while SK is channeling

Epicenter.

Wait for Sand King to finish waving his tail the second time then click on position that

you want to land the Epicenter.

Remember, you have to wait until he finish waving his time the second tale, or else you will

blink in without your ultimate and that will be a disaster!Here is a video of "Shift + Blink" Sand King. I think you may learn something from it.

SKILL BUILDS

Skill Build 1 Skill Build 2

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Skill Build 3

Lvl 1 Burrow StrikeLvl 2 Sand Storm

Lvl 3 Burrow Strike

Lvl 4 Sand Storm

Lvl 5 Burrow Strike

Lvl 6 Epicenter

Lvl 7 Burrow Strike

Lvl 8 Sand Storm

Lvl 9 Sand Storm

Lvl 10 Caustic Finale

Lvl 11 Epicenter

Lvl 12 Caustic Finale

Lvl 13 Caustic Finale

Lvl 14 Caustic Finale

Lvl 15 Stats

Lvl 16 Epicenter

Lvl 17 - 25 Stats

Explaination:This build is considered standard build for Sand King in competitive games. Maxing Burrow

Strike since it's your best skill, no need to explain it. Taking Epicenter at lvl 6, 11 and 16 is notneeded to explain. Why max Sand Storm? This skill gives you so many benefits. Sand King is a

ganker, support and initiator so he spends most of his time roaming, supporting and ganking.

Sand Storm will save you when your HP is low, dodging everything thrown to you and also mess

your enemies up when they're laning with you. You won't farm much so Caustic Finale is not soneeded, and as I said above, taking it early will push your lane too high. Take it after maxing

Burrow Strike and Sand Storm because at that level (9 or 10), you will have to push a lot so

Caustic Finale will help you to kill creeps faster.

ITEM BUILDS

Starting Items Core Items Optional Luxury Rejected

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This will help you to increase your average HP, give you HP regeneration andblock damage. It allows you to tank in teamfights quite better, especially when there are

physical damage dealers.

Too much spell casters? This will help you quite a lot. You can also upgrade Pipe if

it's necessary for your team.

Another good item should be considered for Sand King. It will increase your low

armor, also gives you 12 extra intelligence and 5 HP regeneration. The Discord effect works

so great on casters like Sand King. This will help you and your team increase the damageoutput a lot. Buy it if you see your game is pretty comfortable for you to farm.

This is a very defensive item. Usually chosen for countering strong single-targetnukes of Lion, Lina, Zeus or disables such as Hex, Shackle, Fiend Grip, Primal Roar... The

bonus stats and HP/Mana regeneration are pretty decent.

Cheap item with great usage. You can use this along with Blink Dagger to

increase your mobility in teamfights as well as chasing and escaping.

So much mana regeneration for you. Cyclone will help you and your team keep

dangerous heroes out of the teamfights a while or catching a fleeing hero, stop yourenemies from chasing you and your mates...

ITEM BUILDS

Starting Items Core Items Optional Luxury

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Rejected

More intelligence, more armor, great slow aura with slow ability.

Everyone loves this boy. So do I and so do you.

An extra disable, why not?

Great pushing tool, cheap damage, more regeneration.

This should be considered for SK as well. You won't do as much as you did in

early and mid game so the longer you leave, the more useful you are in late game. Besides,the Bloodpact effects after you die are very usefull for your team.

You're confident and you want to get for yourself some quick kills? This one is for

you. Combined with Ghost Scepter or Veil of Discord and upgraded to lvl 4 or 5, you can killheroes that don't have much HP instantly.

ITEM BUILDS

Starting Items Core Items Optional Luxury Rejected

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Again, you're not a carry and don't have any right-clicking power so you don't need thosestuffs. It's just a waste of money.

You think your enemies will let you casting Epicenter twice