A follower of the great God of Order, Paladine, Sven has sworn to uphold the rights of all. Born of a Knight and a Night Elf and ostracized since birth, Sven has lead a solitary existence of meditation and training. He has come out of his wanderings determined to guard the innocent against evil. Armed with his blessed cleaving blade Justice, and harnessing the power to strike down his enemies with the might of God's Strength, Sven's wrath toward the unjust is a sight to behold.
Sven is all about getting pumped up. His skills allow him to deal a lot of area of effect damage to several targets at once. Storm Bolt is a powerful damage spell, which stuns both the target and all surrounding units for several seconds, allowing Sven to catch up and deal with them. His Warcry ability helps, giving Sven and nearby allies a temporary movement speed and armor bonus so they can charge quickly and fearlessly. Sven's foes should be especially fearful of his powerful physical attacks. God's Strength pumps Sven's damage up to very high levels, and Cleave turns every attack into an area of effect strike. Although his gameplay is fairly straightforward, Sven should not be underestimated. The best course of action when faced with a fully pumped Sven is to run.
Low Natural Movement Speed(Especially as a Melee Hero)
What it means for Sven:
His good starting damage and low damage gap, in theory, makes uncontested last hitting a breeze. However, low armor and low movement speed for a melee hero means the Sven doesn't really do all that well against harassment in lane, even despite his starting strength.
His good base stats but low stats gain gives credence to the idea of Sven being capable even if he is a bit under-leveled.
His high base agility and high base and gain on his primary attribute results in a commendable attack damage output. Though, being melee and having low natural movement speed could result in difficulty utilizing said DPS.
His pitiful intelligence results in sever mana issues as well.
Okay, this is pretty cookie cutter and self explanatory. Storm Bolt is your main nuke AND stun so it's maxed out asap. One level of Warcry for the bonus MS, good for chasing and escaping both for you and your allies. It isn't leveled up more at this point simply because:
we don't have the mana to spam it so the reduced cd isn't very useful.
early game, we are more in danger against magic damage(most spells) rather than physical damage(mostly attacks) so plus armor isn't as useful, also we have Stout Shield(more on that later).
the slight increase in health, mana, damage, & attack speed are just more useful 9/10 times.
Great Cleave isn't taken because:
the damage at the early levels is negligible.
it slightly pushes creeps and is bad for creep-elibrium.
you are melee so you often won't be able to attack often during the laning stage + Great Cleave only works on your attacks = Great Cleave will barely be used at this stage of the game.
This is pretty Old-School, and again the reasoning for this is still pretty much the same as our 1-7 build. Cleave just isn't that useful at this stage of the game, weather it be for ganking, farming, or supporting, etc.
We're still at the stage where magic damage is still more dangerous to us than physical damage. 9/10 times: The ability to spam Storm Bolt > the need to use Warcry. Until level 10, that is. We take a level of Warcry at 10 because, at around this point in the game, physical-dps is becoming more and more of a danger. Also, at around that point, we've bulked up enough stats already.
Stats are no longer optimal at this point. The need to spam Warcry has become more apparent. The ability to push creep waves has become more valuable. Also, We should have enough dps at this point to make Great Cleave's aoe damage significant.
Pretty generic, and most other Sven Guides have these. The build grants you all the mana you need. Bottle is just great for Sven for the simple fact that Sven can make use of ANY rune. Armlet is a cheap and effective dps AND tanking item. Dagger is just a great positioning item and Sven, as a melee hero, needs the ability to come up-close and personal with the enemy hero.
Though Magic Wand is partly being phased out by Soul Ring, Magic Wand is the more 'safe' and n00b friendly option. Especially considering we are also taking Armlet, which also drains hp. You can replace Dagger with Lothar if your just pub-stomping.
Nope, this is basically all Sven needs. A means to survive. Weather you pick Blade Mail or BKB is up to you. Though most guides will suggest BKB, Blade Mail is just a cheaper alternative.
Practically the same as the Old School build. The main reason being that a support-Sven is mainly a gank/roam-support hero. Storm Bolt is still priority. The ability to spam Storm Bolt being the more important than his other skills. In fact, the deficit in Sven's gold brought playing support role increases his need for Attribute Bonus over his other skills.
Meh. Pretty basic stuff right here as a support role. Buy at your digression. Ideally though, your team shouldn't rely on Sven quite as heavily in his supportive role. Thus, a start of a courier, a few clarities, a tango, and maybe a smoke should be sufficient.
Remember, Sven's main supportive ability is his Storm Bolt, a very mana intensive skill. Clarities are a must for a support Sven.
Pretty sparse, but understandable. You're the support, not a lot of gold is headed your way. Again, a support-Sven is ideally a ganker/roamer. Thus, ideally Sven should be in most of the skirmishes. Hence, Scroll of Town Portal, so that he can easily be where the conflict is; hence, the Magic Stick/Wand and the Urn for when he is in the middle of the conflict. Medallion is also an acceptable alternative if there no other heroes to get MoC. Janggo and Vlads are also possible alternatives, however, they are lower on the list as they are quite expensive in comparison. Again, as a roamer Sven could us the bottle, but it's not required. Sven is an okay warder, due to his roaming, but a subpar counter-warder, because he is melee.
Make no mistake, Sven is a subpar support hero. The reason you pick Sven as a support over other better supports is because Sven can, if need be, transition into a dps/tank hybrid later in the game.
The reason I elected to place Force Staff here instead of Kelen's Dagger is because:
Force Staff is much easier to build for, very important considering Sven's farm.
Force Staff has greater utility. In the occasion that Sven doesn't transition into his dps-tank role, Force Staff will still serve as a great supportive item.
Force Staff provides good stats. Most notable would be the +10 intelligence. Again, if Sven stays as a support, the mana would be quite useful for him still.
Power Treads is chosen over Arcane Boots only for two reasons. The first being that Power Treads comes in smaller bite sized pieces and the second and more relevant factor being that Power Treads is a more flexible item overall. Power Treads can easily be switched between Str, for dps-tank, and Int, for Storm Bolt. In this regard, Power Treads is chosen because it's a "safe" choice. However, if you know for sure that you won't be transitioning for your supportive role, get Arcane Boots.
Having started from a support build, the chances that you will gain enough farm to get 4-tier items is greatly reduced. Obviously though, if it should get into a really late stage in the game, get better items.
This here is my personal build and the main reason why decided to make this guide in the first place. I really just wanted to share how I usually saw Sven and how it translates in terms of my skill and item builds.
Alright, a lot of you are probably already thinking, "WTF?!". Well, allow me to explain.
Remember when I said Sven was a subpar support hero? I lied. Sven is a shitty support hero. It's just not him. Sven is a gank-support, dps-tank hybrid. More specifically, Sven starts out as a gank-support hero and transitions into a dps-tank hybrid.
Sven is not a solo-ganker. He lacks the burst damage to finish off heroes on his own. What he does have is Storm Bolt, which can stun enemy units for 2 seconds even at just level 1, and Warcry, which is almost designed for tower diving, granting incredible physical EHP and a decent MS boost for him and his allies. These two skills are simply great for helping allies kill an enemy hero.
Sven himself may not be a great ganker but he does greatly support ganking.
The Transition:
As stated before, Sven transitions into a dps-tank hybrid later on. This is one of the reasons as to why Sven is shitty as support hero. He needs money. A lot of supports have very cheap cores because a lot of their gold goes into team-consumables, like wards, couriers, dust. Sven simply can't afford to dedicate that much gold to consumables. His core, while not as expensive as most carries, is more expensive than most supports. Without his core, he is simply ineffectual as a dps-tank. On the other hand, Sven loses a lot of his early and mid-game ganking potential if he farms in a lane.
It's why this transitional stage is so crucial for Sven to get right and that which many players get wrong.
A lot of people still have this fallacious view that being able to absorb a lot of damage is all that it means to be a tank. The fact of the matter is, being durable as all hell isn't very useful if the enemy can simply ignore you. This is why the build here is designed to give Sven a lot of AoE presence as well as add to his durability. This AoE presence is also related to his dps, after all, being able to deal a great deal of damage makes it very hard to be ignored.
What is great about Sven is that he is practically designed to be simultaneously able to soak up damage and able to deal a good deal of dps himself. God's Strength increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of Sven. Hence, with God's Strength, 10 strength would equate to, not just 190 health, but also 20/25/30 damage. Better yet, there's an obvious synergy with God's Strength and Great Cleave. Further more, Warcry's armor bonus also translates to a lot of physical EHP. Last but not least, Storm Bolt's 2 second duration stun is quite a significant disable.
All this suggest that Sven is designed as a dps-tank. Thus, we will build Sven as a dps-tank.
Janggo is an item that's practically designed for Sven. It help with his survivability, greatly eases his mana problems, adds to his damage output, compensates for his below average movement speed and is also useful to his comrades. The active also stacks with Warcry, which is a nice bonus. Best of all, it's composed of cheap, easy to farm items, and the build up is quite nice for a hero like Sven.
Fairly standard for a strength dps hero. Armlet is a cheap and effective dps and tanking item. Dagger is just a great positioning item and Sven, as a melee hero, needs the ability to come up-close and personal with the enemy hero. BKB allows Sven to stay up-close and personal with the enemy. These items are more expensive and the components themselves are relatively costly. When Sven starts to farm these items is the point when Sven truly starts becoming a dps hero.
Phase Boots:
If you haven't noticed yet, the items here are items that provide Sven a balance of survivability and damage output. Power Treads simply fits that description quite nicely. Phase's plus damage is nice but its overall dps output is lower than Treads. So why pick Phase?
Simple. Mobility, mobility, mobility.
The combination of Janggo and Warcry provides a great deal of mobility and I used to find the boost given by Phase unnecessary. However, recently I have found that Sven is far too easily kited without Phase.
It is important to remember that Phase Boots is a great chase/escape item and that Sven is a melee hero and that the majority of his damage output comes form God's Strength and Cleave. He needs to be able to get next to his foe to be effectual.
That said, there are cases where other Boot upgrades are better.
Often I have found that Power Treads is a better option over Phase when Sven and his team has a means to hold the enemy down. As previously stated, Power Treads has a better dps output than Phase. The strength and the intelligence bonus are not really very relevant since since Janggo provides so much of both. Simply, if you don't need the phase ability, then Treads is a good way to go.
Arcane certainly solves Sven's mana issues and it's useful to his allies too, not to mention it can be disassembled. The primary issue with this item is that it holds little value for Sven as a ganker and even less for Sven as a dps or a tank. Janggo and Bottle already provide a decent suppy of mana, with Sven frequently ganking, Bottle is more often than not enough as a source of regen. Plus, if that's not enough or simply not possible, there are other means of giving Sven more mana. Also, Energy Booster cost's a thousand gold, and as Sven, we'd like to keep our components a cheap as possible. The most often case where Arcane trumps its peers is for a pushing line-up/strat. Often Arcane is taken in order to sustain the team's mana pool in clashes and pushes.
Travel is simply far too expensive to be core but it is a great luxury.
Tranquil Boots is probably the only Boots of Speed upgrade that I cannot recommend for Sven. Sven is a melee hero and thus will always risk breaking Tranquil Boots if he ever intends to deal auto-attack damage.
Bottle:
Abuse the runes! Sven can make use of ANY rune. You should always abuse the runes and Bottle goes greatly with that. If done well, Bottle will, for the most part, be the only source of regen that you'll need.
Many of you are probably comparing this build to the old-school dps build, and likely, many of you probably don't see much of a difference but there is a very fundamental difference in concept between the old-school and this. Mobility. You see, while both builds are of the intention of Sven becoming a dps-tank, the focus of the old-school build was on increasing the amount of dps Sven had while the new one focuses on the capability of actually using that dps.
The problem with the old-school build was that, while it did give Sven a lot of damage, he couldn't use that damage very effectively. Even in the recent replays I've watched, no matter how high Sven's dps was, he could only get a few hits in per clash.
Let us use a boxing metaphor for a moment with Sven as our boxer.
The old-school build had Sven as a boxer that could hit hard and fast, he could even break concrete with his bare fists. But he also had short arms and two left feet. He could swing as hard as he wanted and as fast as he wanted but he would always loose because the other guys could always run circles around him.
The new build is all about getting Sven better footwork. He may not hit as hard or as fast as the old-school Sven but now he can actually get close enough to the enemy to land his punches.
It is such that, between Armlet, BKB, and Dagger, if I had to skip one, I'd skip Armlet.
There's not much to talk about that hasn't already been said, the issue here is why we're leveling up Warcry so early, or more specifically, why we're taking Warcry over Attribute Bonus. Simple, our items already give us a lot of stats. Taking AB would just be redundant.
Also, by taking a more gank-supportive role than the first build, we are likely not as ahead, level-wise. But, since we're aiming to for more damage output than the second build, we'll need Cleave more than AB.
Cleave is not a skill that's often spoken well of. People usually find the AoE too small to be of value when against heroes, the amount splashed isn't usually praised. Fuck, I don't even think there's a single QQ thread about Cleave.
A cleave ability isn't useful for farming a single lane. It is useful when jungling or when farming more than one lane but Sven, more often than not, doesn't do either of these and, more often than not, we don't want Sven to do either of these.
Cleave is a good pushing tool, but there are simply much better skills for pushing.
However, while Cleave is not a great skill, it's not entirely horrible one either. For all its failings, Cleave is an ability that works well with our Ultimate and has a great overall damage potential against clumped up enemies.
It may not be a very good source of damage output but it's all we have and we need to make use of all that we can.
Optional
Before anything else, I'd simply like to clarify that is considered a core item for the simple fact that it is highly unlikely for the enemy line up to not have disables. That said, in the 1/100 chance that there is not a single disable or burst nukers on the enemy team, and that none of them will get a disabling item, get BKB anyway because it's very much possible that your enemies are complete morons and you'd win the game either way.
If you're really that desperate for mana, then sure go ahead. They're not on the recommended items for the fact that most of the very early game mana regen Sven gets comes from Clarity Potions and most mid-game mana problems are already solved or at least mitigated by a mana item more suited for Sven's role.
Medallion of Courage:
It seems greatly fitting for Sven, solving his mana issues and amplifies his dps output. That said, there are often better heroes to get MoC. As a supportive item, Urn of Shadows a much cheaper item and far more useful IMO.
Orb of Venom:
An okay item for chasing. Remember that Orb of Venom is very much an offensive item and offers next to nothing defensively and thus should only be taken when you are sure you can stay on the offensive. Also, it's only upgrade is Skadi, which is far too expensive.
Again, an obvious choice if against heavy nukage. That said, Sven is a naturally beefy hero and a lot of his core only make him even beefier, to the point that most nukes aren't really an issue. There's also the fact that MR items are rather redundant to BKB.
Lightning Maces:
Get these only if the enemy team has a substantial amount of physical defenses. Don't be fooled, these aren't bad items to get for Sven, it just so happens there are much better alternatives. That said, no other dps item provides magical dps so if magic damage is what you need...
Helm of the Dominator:
Not a bad item per se. Sven can make good use of the Dominate ability for sure. The problem is HotD provides so little for Sven for his dps output and even less for his need to actually land that dps output.
Mask of Madness:
Great for pub stomping but against most teams that are competent, you'll be dead before you make any significant use of that IAS and/or lifesteal.
Vladmir's Offering:
Arguably the best lifesteal item for Sven. The auras are great for your team. The auras are great for pushing as well. This is a highly team oriented item though and it offers almost nothing for ganks.
Lothar's Edge:
Another pub stomper item. Again, its main flaw is that agains't more competent enemies, it's highly inefficient. It costs more than Dagger and is much more easily countered. That said, its damage output and movement speed boost shouldn't be underestimated.
Force Staff:
Not as bad as you might think. The main issue is that the Personal build already grants a lot of intelligence, and while the bonus given by Force staff isn't to be underestimated, we should't be having extensive mana problems.
Consider Force Staff as your "safe" choice for positioning items. It doesn't have the 3 second rule that Dagger has, and isn't countered by anti-invisibility like Lothar's is, and it's a more flexible item, and grants you more leeway on your mana pool. However, offensively, Dagger is superior and Lothar's is better as a pub stomper.
Necronomicon:
While not necessarily a bad item, it does have a lot that compliments your skills, get this only if you need the minions AND you're the only one who can get it in your team.
Crystalys:
Get this if you need a cheap source of dps. Be warned though, Crystalys is only good for boosting your dps. It offers no survivability, no mobility, only better dps.
Quelling Blade:
This item receives special mention for the mere fact that it works so well with Great Cleave and to a lesser extent God's Strength. The main reason this isn't recommended is that it's mainly a farming item, something that Sven only barely does.
Unwelcome to the Jungle
Jungler Sven is a horrible idea. Sven needs Great Cleave to jungle but taking it early sucks. Taking Great Cleave early will only be useful for jungling and nothing else because its early damage output is pitiful. And even as a jungling skill, Great Cleave is pathetic. So Sven can't jungle early.
There are many reasons why it's rejected. The most glaring, however, is that Sven can't farm it fast enough.
Vanguard:
The first mistake many make when approaching Sven as a dps-tank is equating being beefy with tanking. Tanking requires not only that you can absorb damage but also that you be enough of a threat or at least a nuisance to be worth taking down first. Vanguard offers plenty of the former but nothing of the latter. This is simply another case of "Armlet is much better".
Battle Fury:
You don't need more cleave. Battle Fury costs 4350 gold, offers only marginally to ganks, offers very little in terms of survivability, and offers nothing in terms of mobility.
If you want more cleave against creeps, get Quelling Blade and maybe then Crystalys. It's a much cheaper alternative but also much more cost efficient.
Alright, I played enough matches and have been in the forums long enough that I know that having Battle Fury in the rejected items list for Sven is controversial to many. Allow me to elaborate.
Let me first state that Battle Fury is not rejected because it's a bad item for Sven but because it is overshadowed by far too many other item choices, so much so that getting Battle Fury over these items is akin to playing with a slight handicap. Battle Fury simply isn't optimal for what people want it to do for Sven.
Damage against creeps: Get Quelling Blade. It's +32% bonus damage will cleave and it's much, much cheaper. Why not Battle Fury AND Quelling Blade? Because that'd be two item slots solely for creep killing.
Damage against heroes: I've said this before and I'll say it again, having high dps means nothing if you can't use it. Battle Fury offers nothing for Sven's mobility, a.k.a. his ability to get close enough to the enemy to actually attack. It offers nothing for his survivability, a.k.a. his ability to live long enough to actually deal his damage. It offers no protection against disables, a.k.a. being useless.
The only reason to get Battle Fury dps-wise against heroes is for it's cleave, seeing as it ignores armor. However, this isn't a very reliable means to deal damage. It requires that you have good positioning when attacking and that the enemy have poor positioning and are relatively clumped up together.
Damage per Second: Even with the preface that all you need is damage, there are other much, much better means of boosting Sven's dps. Crystalys is a much more efficient item in terms of gold per damage, and it has the added benefit of being upgradeable to Buriza-do Kyanon. In fact, the difference between Buriza and Fury is a mere 1400 gold.
Heck, why go for more damage, how about getting attack speed for your dps? I'd argue Hyperstone is better for your damage output. Hell, I'd recommend Maelstrom, again more efficient in terms of gold per damage, and again upgradeable, this time to Mjollnir which is only 1050 gold more expensive than Buriza.
Heath and Mana Regen: Firstly, the mana regen for Sven is atrocious because Sven has so low intelligence. Secondly, Bottle should be all the regen you'll need. Hell, Ancient Janggo of Endurance's raw health boost out classes almost half a minute of Battle Fury's health regeneration and it's raw mana boost out classes more than a minute's worth of Battle Fury's mana regeneration. Ancient Janggo of Endurance, coincidentally costing almost as much as perseverance.
Overall: But we don't get Battle Fury for purely the regen, do we? Surely, Battle Fury's ability to grant us regen AND damage AND pushing power is a good reason to buy it, right? WRONG! Vladmir's Offering costs less than half as much as Battle Fury. It provides mana regen for yourself AND your team. It's lifesteal aura, and it's armor aura, and it's damage aura is great for pushing AND for your team. Not to mention that it comes in smaller, bite sized pieces.
Another good pub stomper but also quite inefficient. Sven doesn't have the attack speed to proc Maim enough for it to be a factor. But more than anything, we don't take them because Sange and it's upgrades are mid-game items and as far as mid-game items go for Sven, Armlet is simply much, much better.
Maim has limited value for Sven. Like I said, "Sven doesn't have the attack speed to proc Maim enough for it to be a factor".
Disarm is okay. But if you are thinking about getting it only against carries then don't bother. Your better off trying to provide your allies with armor through aura items. Most carries have BKB as a core item. A lot of carries will also likely get Manta. A good number will even get both.
Disarm cost 100 mana. Sven has mana issues.
Disarm and Evasion are useful only against attacks. Most attacks deal physical damage. Warcry already gives a lot armor. And again, you don't ever want to build Sven to be so tanky that the enemy will just ignore him.
"Armlet is simply much, much better."
I think most of you guys are underestimating Armlet on Sven.
Armlet can increases Sven's DPS output by 50% and it costs only 2600 gold
Desolator at it's best gives a 55% increase but costs 4100 gold and Desolator only boosts your damage output.
Heaven's Halberd costs 3950 gold. That's a lot of gold.
If you get it before you get BKB, then you are delaying that BKB. No BKB and you'll likely just be stunned/disabled.
Get it after your BKB then the opposing carries will likely have their BKB, or Manta Style, or both.
Khadgar's Pipe of Insight is slightly cheaper but still far more recommended than HH.
Heck for almost half the cost, get Force Staff. It's far a more versatile item and is generally harder to counter than HH. Hell, get Blade Mail and have 4 second "immunity" against everyone or have them deal with the return damage.
Want to go expensive? Get Assault Cuirass for only 1400 gold more. Too much? Get Shivas Guard for only 750 gold more than HH.
For that matter, I would advertise Sange and Yasha more than HH for Sven. Sange and Yasha at least have a movement component and considering my emphasis on mobility it makes sense. The movement speed boost may even be enough to justify having Power Treads over Phase Boots. S&Y at least provide an attack speed aspect to help with Sven and Maim.
Fact of the matter is Heaven's Halberd suffers the same issue as Battle Fury. It isn't that it's a bad item for Sven but it is overshadowed by far too many other item choices.
Shit Happens
This is a guide, and that's all it is meant to do, guide you. What's written here aren't rules set in stone. So don't treat them as such.
Obviously I would recommend my Personal build the most, however, like most things there are exceptions. My Personal build is centered around granting Sven mobility, durability, and team presence with a moderate amount of farm. This is not always optimal however. The Old School build for example is a much better option if you can be assured that your team can pin the enemy down for you, hence making mobility negligible. Some situations may mean that Sven won't be able to farm at all, and a Support build may be required of him.
Sometimes shit happens and all we can do is adapt.
Get Great Cleave only after you have maxed out all his other skills AND when you believe you'll need it. Great Cleave has two main uses. The first is for clearing creeps. The second is for clashes, but don't take Great Cleave for clashes unless you can actually auto-attack the enemy. Usually this means no Great Cleave until you finish your BKB.
Rejected
You guys will notice that I didn't list items such as Dagon on the Rejected list. That's because the Rejected section is NOT a list of items which are bad for Sven. That section is mainly meant to explain why the listed items are not on the listed builds nor in the Optional list.
In other words, I chose items that people will often consider with Sven but are IMO surpassed by other items.
Sven's fall from grace came during the rise of the tri-lanes and, IMO, this isn't because Sven can't tri-lane but instead because doing so requires a very strange, almost alien mindset. But first, why Sven can tri-lane.
Storm Bolt. Pure and simple. As previously stated, Storm Bolt is one of the few stuns that last for 2 seconds even at just level 1. This means that, even when sharing exp with two other heroes, Sven can remain a very significant factor in lane.
Warcry can help greatly as well, being able to grant himself and his two companions the buff can be quite useful. The main issue here is that, in a tri-lane, the exp split can mean even less mana for Sven to work with.
Putting Sven in a tri-lane, giving Sven 2 babysitters, can allow Sven more room for early farming. And so we run into our major issue. Putting a hero in a tri-line, with two baby sitters, usually means that that hero becomes the primary/secondary farmer of the team. Unfortunately for Sven, he's not a carry and he's not the best semi-carry either, so putting all that farm to Sven is partly wasted, and having Sven farm and not gank is a waste of his potential.
On the other hand, Sven can't function as a babysitter in a tri-lane because, as we have established, Sven can't support for shit.
Placing Sven in a tri-lane requires an unusual mindset because putting Sven in a tri-lane means that Sven becomes the primary farmer but only for the early stage of the game. We don't place Sven in a tri-lane because we want him as a late game hero but rather because we want to jump start his early-mid/mid game. That's right, Sven starting out in a tri-lane means Sven has to transition not twice but thrice, from farmer to support-ganker to dps-tank.
In tri-lanes Sven has to go farm-gank-farm, but this initial farming stage usually takes farm away from the main carry and thus he has to make it up to the carries in the early-mid phase, mainly through ganking. Unfortunately, he isn't a pure ganker hero and he also often requires a bit more farm than the ganks can provide in order to transition into a dps-tank.
This makes tri-lane Sven a relatively difficult and risky play with only medium rewards. It comes to the point that I can't wholly recommend picking Sven if you know for sure that you will have to tri-lane. However, let it not be said that putting Sven in a tri-lane is bad. It's just that, at Sven's current stateas of v6.72f, it's not the best.
This is where Sven once dominated before he was 'countered' by tri-lanes. The common way this was done was to pair Sven with another nuker-disabler which partly babysat Sven. This is a very aggressive play, with the intention of in lane ganks and severe harassment.
This was countered by tri-lanes mainly through turtling, the two enemy babysitters and the enemy carry being able to defend against Sven and his partner. Over aggressive Sven players often found themselves counter-ganked. On the other hand, playing passively resulted in the enemy tri-lane having their carry well farmed.
There are ways to mitigate the loss against a tri-lane, but it's often difficult, usually requiring aid from the other lanes. The best one can do is actually to try to focus the supports instead of the carry. This is due to carries not having much in terms of early game power in comparison to supports. It should be more difficult for the enemy carry and the other support to try to rescue their support than it would be for two supports to rescue a carry. Having the Storm Bolt disabling more than one hero would be quite a blessing.
Again, facing off against a tri-lane is often difficult and may require aid from the other lanes. That said, against other dual lanes or solo-lanes, a Sven dual lane will likely dominate.
Having Sven solo isn't a very good idea. It's better than jungling but it's probably the worst lane otherwise. This all falls to Sven's problems with lane control, in that he doesn't have any. He can't control the lane on his own, not against other solo laners and certainly not against dual or tri-lanes.
Playing Sven solo means to play defensively, something that doesn't mesh well with Sven's aggressive play-style.
That is unless, he is being supported by roamers or junglers, essentially turning his lane into a pseudo tri-lane. And, like a tri-lane, Sven only becomes the primary farmer for the early stage of the game and would have to later transition into a more aggressive role. And, also like a tri-lane, this is a high risk medium reward play. If we should solo a Sven, it is best to place him in the safe lane.
I have seen Sven solo-mid in Philippine DotA and that's always with a "bottle-crow" to compensate for his mana issues but I've personally never seen it end up in success.
Roaming Sven is probably the best for Sven currently, though there are still issues to face.
A roaming Sven will likely be under leveled though this shouldn't be that big of an issue since Storm Bolt deals a two second stun at all levels and Warcry improves movement speed by the same amount at all levels.
The main issue is that, as a roamer, he'll likely also be under farmed. It's not a great set back for Sven as it is for carries, since Sven doesn't need a great deal of farm, even less so at the early stages of the game. But it is a set back and one that will have to be remedied or mitigated.
Successful ganks will go a long way for Sven but unless you're straight up out playing the enemy team, it won't be enough for when Sven has to transition into his dps-tank role.
Sven as a roamer has the precarious position where can have less levels and less farm than most carries and semi-carries but can't afford have too little levels nor farm as most other roamers. It comes to the point where Sven would have to occasionally stop roaming and stay in lane for brief intervals just to keep up.
So why then is this the best way to lane him currently?
Firstly, because it's the most gank oriented lane for Sven. Likely, Sven won't roam alone though he can do so. Sven is not one that works well alone he's often at his best with a partner, hence his prevalence in dual lanes. And Sven works best with nuker-disablers.
Secondly, this affords Sven the best means of rune control. Sven is quite dependent on runes, with his own ganking power being subpar and his great thirst for mana.
Finally, it's because it's the easiest one to transition from. By not taking the the farm away from the carries during the early laning phase, Sven can afford to farm on later without it being detrimental to his teammates. It's this brief farming period that many teams make the mistake of not allowing Sven to have and one that's crucial if he wan't to transition into an effectual dps-tank.
The main crux of my argument for Sven getting the raw deal was that he's a three but he can't solo. The issue with that is that IceFrog has actually done some very significant buffs to Sven's abilities.
From 6.72 - 6.75:
God's Strength is no longer purgeable
God's Strength bonus damage increased from 100/125/150% to 100/150/200%.
Great Cleave AoE increased from 175 to 300
Great Cleave damage from 20/30/40/50% to 25/40/55/70%
Warcry AoE increased from 450 to 900
Warcry armor increased from 3/6/9/12 to 4/8/12/16
Warcry duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds
Warcry cast time removed
After giving it some time, I can say that Sven is well enough right now that he can definitely be played as one or a two.
And since Sven is now viable as a one or a two, his team can afforded to babysit him, and this opens up his laning capabilities very much, being much more viable in dual lanes and tri-lanes. Transitioning is not necessary anymore. Sven can afford to be the dps-tank hero from start to finish. But he can still transition, and it's possible to start off very gank heavy and then switch and become a farming carry.
The Running Man
Sven is a melee hero with 295 base movement speed. Learn animation canceling. As soon as the ability is cast, move! As soon as the attack lands, move! Sven cannot afford to waste his time.
Runes
Just to reiterate. Abuse the runes! Sven can make use of any rune. You should always abuse the runes. For the most part, a rune should mean a gank attempt.
Double Damage:
Double damage stacks with God's Strength, that's 200/240/280% additional damage.
Haste:
Already giving max movement speed, so Haste doesn't 'stack' with Warcry. Nonetheless, the Haste rune is an incredible chasing tool.
Illusion:
With a lot of Sven's damage coming from his base damage, a great deal of his dps is shared by his illusions. Also, Warcry being an AoE skill means that his illusions aren't left behind. Not to mention how illusions are great for tanking towers.
Invisibility:
The element of surprise is always a great tool in any ganker's arsenal.
Regen:
Not as great for Sven as other runes, but with Armlet and Sven's mana issues, regen is definitely helpful.
Storm Bolt has a decent range, a fairly long stun that can hit multiple units. Combined with Sven's natural tankiness, Storm Bolt allows Sven to initiate fairly well. That said, Sven isn't the best initiator in the game, not by a long shot.
Storm Bolt range is decent but it's not anything spectacular. There are many spells with longer ranges and there are disables with longer ranges. Simply running up to the enemy team to stun them is a risky endeavor. The enemy isn't simply gonna stand there and let you stun them. Hence, why if you intend to be the initiator, you will almost always want to get some form of positioning item, mainly Dagger(though Lothars, invis runes, Surge, Toss etc. work too).
Please note however that, unlike many initiators who are fine with dying after they have cast all their spells, you often want Sven to live long enough to get a good number of hits in.
If your team has a better initiator, it is often best to let him initiate instead of Sven. That said, if Sven isn't the primary initiator, it is often a good idea for Sven to follow up after the the initiator.
Tank:
Sven in a team fight should never be afraid to take a hit. Sven is tanky enough to be able to take on a lot of punishment, and if done right, should have a good enough team presence that he can draw enemy fire away from his more valuable teammates. However, this is not to say that Sven should be played recklessly. While Sven shouldn't be afraid to die for the team, it wouldn't do for him to simply give away a free kill for the enemy.
While Sven's presence should be significant enough to draw the enemies attention towards him, it is best not to neglect the importance of positioning as well. Sven is meant to be in the middle of the action, so he's close enough to his team mates to buff them up while being in range of the enemy to deal damage.
Bait:
If you're using the Personal build then you should have a lot of mobility. You can use this mobility to great effect. Running is not always a bad thing, and it could in fact be a great thing. Sven could in fact lure/kite the enemy team if needed be, allowing your teammates to deal damage to the enemy while they're busy chasing Sven.
Please note however that Sven is a dps-tank and he's not doing a lot of dps if he is running away. Hence, the decision to run should always be a strategic decision. It is almost always advisable to not completely run away from the fight, and to be ready to jump right back in after the enemy stops chasing.
DPS:
Sven has two main sources of DPS skill-wise. The primary source of Sven's DPS is God's Strength. This however means that Sven relies on auto-attack for most of his damage output. Auto-attacks are reduced by armor. Auto-attacks can be evaded. Auto-attack, for the most part, can't be used against ethereal units.
Thankfully he has Great Cleave as a secondary source of DPS. "Cleave damage is reduced by armor type but not by armor value". This means that, against hero units, Sven's Great Cleave might as well be doing pure damage, ignoring armor completely. In fact, there are many occasions where dealing cleave damage to an enemy deals more damage to it than attacking it directly.
With Great Cleave level 1/2/3/4, the cleave deals more damage than a direct attack when the enemy's armor is equal to or higher than 50/25/14/7.
Cleave damage also cannot be evaded and cleave damage can also hit invisible units. Cleave damage goes through magic immunity but doesn't hit ethereal units.
Needless to say, Great Cleave deals a lot of damage. However, it is limited by it's AoE, so positioning becomes a key part of Sven's damage output. Cleave AoE is a circle with radius equal to the Cleave range, and its center at a distance equal to the Cleave away from the attacking unit, towards the primary target of the attack. Hence, when trying to deal cleave damage to a particular enemy, it is a good rule of thumb to try to make it so that the unit Sven is attacking is between Sven and the target to be cleaved. >Unit Sven is Attacking>>>Unit Sven is Dealing Cleave Damage Against
As of 6.75 Cleave's AoE was increased from 200 to 300. A lot of people may not think of this as a big thing but actually, It's a that's 2.25x larger! Note however that he's still a melee hero, and Cleave still relies on Sven having good positioning and the enemy having not so good positioning.
As we've established, Sven is great for supporting ganks.
Mana-Fountains:
Sven has mana problems.
Skill Shots:
Some heroes have spells that take a while to cast or land and often requires a great deal of skill and a little bit of luck to land. Sven has a 2 second stun, this makes it much easier to land those spells.
Lina/Vengeful:
Before the latest dominance of tri-lanes, the Sven and Lina/VS combo used to be quite a common sight in dual lanes, the synergy is quite obvious. Sven works well with other disabler-nukers too but these two are given special mention simply for their prevalence in a bygone era.
THD/WD:
Though not quite as famous as Sven-Lina combo, these work with a fairly similar concept to that.
Sven and THD fill the holes in eachothers weaknesses. Ice Path and Macropyre both having a bit of a delay and are relatively difficult to land, Sven can pin heroes down for 2 seconds. Warcray for speed; Dual Breath for slow. God Strength and Liquid Fire bring towers down fast.
Sven and Vol'jin as a dual lane, offers a good deal of survivability, a good deal of stun, and a great deal of damage potential.
Crystal Maiden:
Special mention for being a mana fountain, a disabler, and possibly even an aid in ganking, all in one.
Sven has already has mana problems. These guys just pour salt into his wounds.
Disablers and Disabling items:
How these counter Sven should be fairly evident.
Slows, Nets, & Leashes - Sven is a melee hero, hindering his ability to get close to the enemy means hindering his ability to attack.
Silences - If your silenced before you get you are able to cast your ultimate, your damage output will be greatly reduced. Otherwise, probably the least threatening disable for Sven but none the less still very annoying to deal with.
Doom - Special mention for the ability to disable items.
Disarms - If you can't attack, you can't deal most of your damage.
Stuns & Hexes - Hinders mobility, the ability to cast spells, the ability to attack, and the ability to use items. Need I say more?
Mobility:
Sven is a melee dps hero. You can't hit what you can't reach.
Purge:
Purge removes rune buffs and it usually slows.
Diffusal Blade:
A purge, which usually slows and removes rune buffs, AND a mana break.
Necronomicon:
Necronomicon Warrior has Feedback and Necronomicon Archer has Mana Burn. Also, Last Will and Great Cleave don't mix.
Defense Against Physical Attacks:
I'd have sectioned this into "Etheral", "High Armor", "Evasion", etc. but they all pretty much counter Sven in the same way. They make his dps output useless.
Sven the Rogue Knight Author: menage0a0trois Map Vers.: 6.75
Hasta la vista, baby!
Cliché is cliché
Date Posted: 08/25/11 Last Comment:24/12/2012 Total Votes: 74 Current Rating: 8.79 Views: 205173
is considered a core item for the simple fact that it is highly unlikely for the enemy line up to not have disables. That said, in the 1/100 chance that there is not a single disable or burst nukers on the enemy team, and that none of them will get a disabling item, get BKB anyway because it's very much possible that your enemies are complete morons and you'd win the game either way.
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Sven the Rogue Knight
