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

GENERAL INFORMATION

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 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 famous ultimate, 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 the enemy 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

Spell Type	Targeting Type	Effected units	Hotkey
Active	Unit/Point	Enemies	E

The Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, impaling everything above him, then resurfaces.

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	110	11 sec	350	150	1.65 sec	Deals 100 damage and stuns for 1.65 seconds.
2	120	11 sec	450	150	1.65 sec	Deals 160 damage and stuns for 1.65 seconds.
3	130	11 sec	550	150	1.65 sec	Deals 220 damage and stuns for 1.65 seconds.
4	140	11 sec	650	150	1.65 sec	Deals 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.

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.

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 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 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 the opposite, 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) but you'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 will move 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 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 chasing someone. 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 it and 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. Everyone that plays SK should know about this. These picture below are good examples.
- Bad Burrowstrike:

-Good Burrowstrike:

Spell Type	Targeting Type	Effected units	Hotkey
Active	N/A	Enemies	R

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

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	60	40 sec	N/A	275	20 sec	Deals 20 damage per second. 0.3 second delay before Sand King is revealed
2	50	30 sec	N/A	435	40 sec	Deals 40 damage per second. 0.6 second delay before Sand King is revealed
3	40	20 sec	N/A	375	60 sec	Deals 60 damage per second. 0.9 second delay before Sand King is revealed
4	30	10 sec	N/A	525	80 sec	Deals 80 damage per second. 1.5 second delay before Sand King is revealed

Sand Storm's damage type is magical.

Sand King becomes invisible while using Sand Storm.

Sand Storm is a channeling spell, it will be canceled if Sand King is silent or affected by AoE stuns.

While in Sand Storm, Sand King still takes damage from AoE spell.

After canceling Sand Storm or the duration is over, Sand King is still invisible for 0.3/0.6/0.9/1.5 sec and he's able to move.

Sand King can use Sand Storm to dodge almost every single-targeting spells since he's invisible.

Sand King will be revealed by Sentry Wards, Dust of Appearance and Gem of Truesight.

Sand Storm doesn't deal damage to magic immune units

Pros:

Can be used to harras melee heroes, prevents them from getting close o the creep waves.

Keeps you stay in the lane or near the exp range without being hit by enemies.

Destroys creep waves with ease.

Can dodge almost every single-targeting spells.

Low mana cost, good AoE, low cooldown (at Lvl 4), decent DOT.

Cons:

Interrupted by AoE stuns.

Can't be used with heroes that have AoE spells.

It's channeling so he won't be able to do anything while in Sand Storm.

How to use Sand Storm?

Farming: of course with its 525 AoE, you can farm pretty easily by using Sand Storm. Some may say you will miss many last-hits but you're wrong. The DOT is up to 80 damage per second when Sand Storm reaches lvl 4, even higher than Radiance's, it makes the farming much easier for you. You can take 3 or 4/5 creep per creep wave or even the whole creep wave.

Dodging: as I mentioned above, his ability is a very good tool to dodging single-targeting spell, especially stuns. Activate the Sand Storm whenever you see your enemies throw something to you. It allows you to dodge not only spells but also normal hits. It will be very useful when you have low HP and you want to avoid a hit from enemy tower.

Harrasing/Laning: it will be very effective if only you're laning with heroes that don't have AoE spells, especially melee heroes. Don't underestimate 20 damage per second of lvl 1 Sand Storm. It will cause a lot of trouble for non-AoE heroes such as Faceless Void, Anti-Mage... It will annoy them very much when they try to last-hit a creep. But don't try o use it against heroes like Lion, Lina, Troll, Butcher, Earthshaker...

Spell Type	Targeting Type	Effected units	Hotkey
Passive	N/A	Enemies	L

Each of the Sand King's attacks injects a deadly venom that causes the target to explode violently on death, dealing damage in an area.

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	N/A	N/A	N/A	400	8 sec	90 damage.
2	N/A	N/A	N/A	400	8 sec	130 damage.
3	N/A	N/A	N/A	400	8 sec	170 damage.
4	N/A	N/A	N/A	400	8 sec	220 damage.

Caustic Finale's damage type is magical.

The effect of its is only applied when Sand King hit the units.

When the infected units die, they will be exploded and deal damage to nearby allied units in 400 AoE.

Caustic Finale doesn't effect or deal damage to magic immune units.

Pros:

Great farming tool when combined with Burrow Strike.

Can be used to finish fleeing enemies if you're lucky.

Cons:

It will push your lane too high and it's very difficult to farm when the creep waves are too high.

How to use Caustic Finale?

Farming: this is the main usage of this skill and it's almost used for his purpose. 220 damage in 400 AoE is pretty high and that allows Sand King to farm up very easily. When Caustic Finale is combined with any one AoE spell that can deal decent amount of damage, you only need one right-click to finish a whole creep wave. But with his own spell, Burrow Strike, Sand King doesn't need any other spell to do it.

Killing: as I said, if you're lucky enough, you can get some kills with this skill. It's possible and it happened to me sometimes. Imagine your fleeing target(s) has so low HP that you only need one hit to finish him off, suddenly he passes a very low HP creep, you can keep chasing but you just need to finish that creep so that the exploding damage will kill him for you.

Harrasing: another usage of Caustic Finale. I see many players do this a lot and sometimes I do it too if my lane is easy and I want to harras as much as possible. All you need to do is easy, just right-click on a creep that has low HP to infect it with Caustic Finale, when it's killed, it will be exploded and deal damage to enemy units. If your enemies stand near it, they will take the damage too.

Spell Type	Targeting Type	Effected units	Hotkey
Active	Instant	Enemies	C

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

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	175	140	N/A	275	3 sec	Emits 6 pulses. Each pulse deals 110 damage and slows by 30%.
2	250	120	N/A	275	3 sec	Emits 8 pulses. Each pulse deals 110 damage and slows by 30%.
3	325	100	N/A	275	3 sec	Emits 10 pulses. Each pulse deals 110 damage and slows by 30%.

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	175	120	N/A	275	3 sec	Emits 8 pulses. Each pulse deals 110 damage and slows by 30%.
2	250	100	N/A	275	3 sec	Emits 10 pulses. Each pulse deals 110 damage and slows by 30%.
3	325	80	N/A	275	3 sec	Emits 12 pulses. Each pulse deals 110 damage and slows by 30%.

Epicenter's damage type is magical.

Sand King channels for 2 seconds before activating this skill. Stopping the channeling will waste the cooldown and mana required for the skill. Sand King will wave his tale twice before the pulses are released.

The pulses are centered on the Sand King's current location, not where he first casted the spell.

The AoE of the pulses is 275 / 325 / 375 / 425 / 475 / 525 / 575 / 650 / 675 / 700 and 775/825 when upgraded.

Epicenter won't deal damage when enemy units activate BKB but the slow is still applied.

Pros:

One of the mos deadly ultimate in DotA.

Has good AoE with slow to prevent enemies from escaping.

High damage allows to clean up teamfights quickly.

Easy to get double/triple/ultra kills or even rampages.

Cons:

Channeling spell.

The spell will be stopped if interrupted by stuns, disables, silence and it will waste cooldown and mana.

Mana cost is high for a Strength hero.

Needs Blink Dagger or BKB to be used effectively.

How to use Epicenter?
To use Epicenter, you have two options:

Burrow Strike + Epicenter with BKB activated + Sand Storm: this allows to cast your ultimate perfectly without interrupted and deal a bit more damage with Sand Storm. But your stun has only 1.65 sec and you need 2 sec to release pulse, so your enemies will have 0.35 sec to escape before the pulses are released. 0.35 sec sound too short, but will heroes have high mobility such as Storm, Magina, Akasha, it's not difficult for them to escape. So you'd better choose option 2.

Shift + Blink + Epicenter + Burrow Strike + Sand Storm: most players prefer this. You usually don't need BKB, all you need to do is choosing the best position to land the Epicenter as well as Burrow Strike perfectly. Besides, when you do this combo, your enemies have to stand for 1.65 sec to take your pulses and damage from Sand Storm. 1.65 sec is not enough to kill heroes I mentioned above but it's better than nothing. The purpose of this combo is surprising your enemies with a sudden attack, they will be confused for a while before realizing that they need to retreat or get out of this mess, but that would be too late for them.

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

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 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

Since Sand King fits many roles, his starting build is very flexible. You can choose anything with the list below.

Always carry some tangoes and salves for HP regen. Clarities are also needed since mana is always a big problem with Sand King, especially when he's low lvl.
If your team needs a courier, buy one. You're a support and buying courier is one of your missions. Same as buying wards. Don't be mean, you will get your money back later.
If you want HP and some damage, Gauntlets will help you.
If you want some mana, Mantles will help you.
If you both, branches will help you.
Magic Stick is a very good item when you'r facing spammers.

It's all your choice. Buy wisely with 603 gold.
And also, I strongly recommend not to buy these items with your 603 gold:

GAMEPLAY

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

Solo lane - Solo mid: try to last-hit and deny as much as possible and reach lvl 6 as fast as you 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 and you 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.
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

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

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: Lucre2808
Map Vers.: 6.74c

Yes, Master!

Guide to Crixalis - The Sand King

Date Posted: 09/05/12
Last Comment:20/03/2013
Total Votes: 13
Current Rating: 8.00
Views: 42589